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Trump Campaigns In North Carolina As Controversy Engulfs His Pick For Governor; Harris Agrees To Debate On CNN, Trump Says It Is Too Late; U.S. Urges Americans To Leave Lebanon As Conflicts Grow; Winning North Carolina Remains Pivotal for Both Campaigns; CNN Goes Inside Maricopa Country's Efforts To Safeguard Democracy; AZ's Biggest County Turns Building Into "Fortress" For Election Day; Zelensky: Long-Range Weapons Key To Victory Over Moscow. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 21, 2024 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[18:00:18]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York and we begin this hour with former President Donald Trump campaigning in North Carolina.

But one person, notably absent from that rally, the Trump endorsed candidate for governor in North Carolina.

This week, a CNN investigation uncovering racist and deeply inflammatory comments made by Robinson on a porn website years ago. The Trump campaign has yet to comment on this despite some Republicans in North Carolina calling on Robinson to drop out with just 45 days is to go until Election Day.

Now, the Harris campaign is seizing on this scandal, releasing a new ad seeking to tie Trump to Robinson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. MARK ROBINSON (R-NC): Abortion in this country is about killing a child because you weren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've been with him a lot. I've gotten to know him and his outstanding.

VOICE OVER: Donald Trump and Mark Robinson. They are both wrong for North Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Also today, Vice President Kamala Harris saying yes to another debate invitation, this time from CNN, but this afternoon, Donald Trump said no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There are a lot of people who say, do it, it is great entertainment. I've already done two. The problem with another debate is that it is just too late.

Voting has already started. She has done one debate. I've done two. It is too late to do another. I'd love to in many ways, but it is too late. The voting is cast, the voters are out there, immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, let's turn now to our panel: CNN senior political commentator and former senior adviser to president George W. Bush, Scott Jennings and CNN political commentator and former senior adviser for the Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign, Karen Finney.

Good to see both of you on this Saturday night.

Scott, let's start first with you. Let's talk about this potential debate. Do you think that the former president should reconsider this invitation or do you think it is the right call for him to not do any additional debates?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, I should say, I do have great confidence that CNN would put on a good debate, so we will start there. We did a great one in Atlanta.

Number two, I have been skeptical about whether he should do another debate. I had thought maybe not. You know, he has done seven. Take the Biden one out from the summer and the other six, the snap poll polls have always judged him. This goes back to 2016, not to have won the debate, even though it didn't keep him from beating Hillary Clinton, he did lose three to her.

So I am just wondering, what are you going to get out of this? And is it worth your time when you're running a campaign? And he is right, that late, I am not sure it would make a huge difference.

You know, when you're using your time, you're asking yourself, am I getting something positive? And I just don't know that there is anything to get. So I think he is probably making the right call here.

DEAN: And Karen for her part, Vice President Harris seems very keen to have another debate. Her and her team very happy with how the last one went. What do you think?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think any opportunity to have such a direct contrast between the former president and our vice president is a win for the vice president. She did very well during the debate in large measure, I mean, her own performance, but we also saw, Donald Trump has really lost a step from where he was in 2016 or even some of the debate performance as we saw in 2020.

We saw a lot of rambling. We saw -- you know, he really had no discipline, no ability to stay on message and to stay. So I understand why they don't want to do a debate.

I agree with Scott, of course, a CNN debate would be excellent and a great opportunity, but I understand why he doesn't want to do it and I do think it would be another great opportunity for the vice president. I think anytime she is an environment, she is showing what a strong leader she is.

DEAN: I want to talk about North Carolina. That is where the former president is today. Obviously, we have this controversy surrounding the Trump endorsed Republican candidate for governor, Mark Robinson. We've had extensive reporting on that, and Scott, polls already showed Robinson doing poorly against his Democratic challenger before our CNN report.

Then you kind of go out a little bit and think about the presidential race in North Carolina, which as Ron Brownstein said, last hour has been heartbreak hill for Democrats since 2008.

But it shows a very tight race there in North Carolina. How do you think this controversy might impact the presidential race there?

JENNINGS: I don't think it is going to impact it at all. If you go back to '16 and '20, Trump won North Carolina twice, and Democrats won the governor's race twice. So he has always been running in an environment there that was more favorable to him than it was to Republicans running underneath him.

So I don't really expect much impact.

[18:05:09]

I know, I think I saw Trump did not mention Robinson today at his event. He wasn't there. I don't think he is going to be with JD Vance when he is there next week.

So you know, if I were in the Trump campaign shoes, I think I would treat it the same way. They are under no obligation to drag this guy around the state, but at the same time, he is a Republican. Trump is a Republican. So I understand what the Democrats are going to argue about it, but that doesn't mean Trump has to embrace him and he did not do it today.

DEAN: And so to that end, Karen, we played that clip of this new ad with the Harris campaign trying to tie the two of them together. Do you think that is a strong strategy.

Absolutely, it reminds people about Donald Trump's lack of judgment.

Remember, this is not the first time that Trump has -- and I know that Robinson kind of ran with doing very well in the primary and Trump kind of jumped on the bandwagon. We've seen him do that, too.

But it is not the first time we've seen Trump go all in for MAGA candidates for candidates who are really too extreme for the electorate.

We saw it in Pennsylvania, we saw it in the Georgia Senate race in 2022 with Herschel Walker. And so I think it is a reminder to voters in North Carolina that this is Donald Trump's guy. This is the person that Donald Trump said was Martin Luther King, Jr. times two. And so I do think it is a reminder to voters that trump has terrible judgment when it comes to candidates. And basically will support whoever he thinks is going to be MAGA enough and is going to be popular with his base. Not surprising when he is in trouble, Trump gives him the Heisman like we've also seen him do time and time again.

DEAN: And I also want to talk about a number -- we've seen a number of voting changes as we get closer to the election. And in this case, Georgia, the pro-trump majority on that election board has voted to demand that counties hand count all the ballots on election day.

Scott, I had one of the members of that board. It was the Democrat on that board, both she and the Independent voted against this. It was a three-two vote, but she was saying that essentially if this was so important, they should have made this change months ago. It is too close to the election and that she is concerned that this implies that there could be issues where there aren't any.

If people have worked a 14-hour day and human error, they miss count, it could inject somewhat of a chaos into this. It is something that the Republican Secretary of State has called a mess.

What do you make of this?

JENNINGS: Well, I understand the Republican impulse to want to inject as much confidence into the vote counting as possible, so I don't discount that that is a good impulse.

On the other hand, I think your guest and some other people in Georgia, including some Republicans, as you mentioned, have valid concerns about how this would operate, what it would do to the vote count, how long it would take to count the votes. The possibility of injecting human error into it.

So I actually think they are valid arguments on both sides of this. I've not gotten overly exorcised about it one way or the other because my impression is there is going to be litigation and then a judge is going to tell us whether this is going to come to pass or not.

So, you know, I think there are valid reasons to be skeptical of it. But at the same time, I don't think you can ever just discount the idea that there are people who want to have as much confidence in counting ballots as possible.

Georgia is an important state and I would understand why Republicans would want to know, hey, that every single ballot get counted fairly? I think that is an okay impulse to have.

But again, I think were headed to court here and we will see what happens.

DEAN: Karen, what do you think?

FINNEY: I am going to remind us of Donald Trump saying we just need to find 11,000 more votes when he was on the phone with Georgia officials in the aftermath of the 2020 election. The three members who voted for this are MAGA Republicans, who are election deniers. They still say 2020 was stolen. So I think we have to also look at the motivation.

Of course, confidence in our elections is a good thing. But I think it is the woman that you had on earlier, the official that you had on earlier pointed out now, we are talking about changing the rules of the game in the fourth quarter with five minutes to go, so that is not the way you instill confidence. That's not the way you instill -- you know, make sure that you have a good process, actually, as she pointed out, that would have been something they should have raised months ago.

It is very telling that it is come up now, but I think, also again, the goal here, I think is really to inject chaos. They are creating a way that they can inject chaos and try to prevent certification of the election in Georgia potentially, maybe while someone tries to find votes.

[18:10:14]

So I think we have to recognize that this is both part of an overall tactic that could have an impact in Georgia, but it could have a larger impact on the broader election if we ended with a situation where people are hearing there is some kind of problem or chaos or fight in Georgia and what is going on and that is really -- that is part of the Trump strategy.

We are seeing this in other states as you mentioned, so I think we have to be very eyes wide open about what is really going on here and what the truth about what is behind this actually is.

DEAN: And then just one more thing I did want to ask you both about, Scott, today, former President Trump posted on Truth Social, a post really focused on female voters, which he definitely has a gender gap. They are, overwhelmingly supporting Kamala Harris and he claimed women are: "More depressed and unhappy than they were when he was president."

Do you think this is an acknowledgment that he is struggling with female voters. Do you think -- what do you think is the proper -- and do you think this is the messaging that's going to help him with those voters?

JENNINGS: Well, of course, it is an acknowledgment of that. There is a huge gender gap. Anybody who can read a poll and is moderately good at math can see that.

And you know, look at when you're running a campaign and you're looking at these different voter groups and you're trying to win them, it is natural to want to talk to them and see if you can reel any of it in.

I do think he makes a legitimate argument about the economic conditions in this country. I mean, there are a lot of women out there who have direct contact with the Biden-Harris economy every day when they are going about their normal day at their jobs, when they are going to the grocery store to pick up food for the family, when they are paying for things for their kids every day. I mean, they know how expensive it is to live in the United States under Biden and Vice President Harris because of the decisions they've made.

So if I were in his shoes and I saw a gender gap like this, I also would remind women voters of the United States,. the economy was better under me, life was cheaper under me, and it can be that way again, if you'll reconsider whether you want to vote for my candidacy.

DEAN: Karen, I will give you the last word on the pitch to female voters.

FINNEY: Yes, so a couple of things, obviously reproductive freedom is a very important issue to many women, one in three women actually now lives in -- of reproductive age, lives under an abortion ban. And that means she has no freedom, no right to make her own decisions about her health care. And as we saw tragically in Georgia, that can have deadly consequences.

On the economy, I think we have to take a look at economic indicators. Overall, the economy is getting better from where it was four years ago when President Biden and Vice President Harris came in. Inflation is back under three percent, we just saw a rate cut from the Fed that is going to give a lot of us some relief.

I am looking at my own mortgage when I saw that news and so I think for women, they will have more freedom under a Vice President Harris as a President Harris, in addition to an economic policy that will create more economic opportunity, and will continue to bring prices down.

And so I think that contrast there again is very telling.

DEAN: All right, Scott Jennings and Karen Finney, always good to see both of you. Thanks so much.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

FINNEY: Thanks.

DEAN: Still ahead, more fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has the US urging Americans to leave Lebanon, which is still reeling after the wave of pager and walkie-talkie explosions that injured thousands.

Ahead, an inside look at how those devices could have been rigged to blow up.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:30]

DEAN: We have breaking news. The US is urging Americans in Lebanon to leave the country while they still can. The warning coming as airstrikes and attacks intensify between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanese health officials say at least 82 people died in the Israeli airstrikes in the two waves of device detonations.

Rigged pagers and walkie-talkies exploded across the country, killing nearly 40, injuring thousands.

CNN's Brian Todd spoke with a demolition expert about how those devices were turned into weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Just a tiny amount of plastic explosives packed into a pager can have a detonation this big.

TODD (on camera): If this was a person, what happens to the person?

RYAN MORRIS, PRESIDENT, TRIPWIRE SOUTH: It's going to be catastrophic what just took place here to the human body.

TODD (voice over): The impact shown on a mannequin it was clipped to.

MORRIS: It can be fatal over time, bleeding out things of that nature.

TODD: And, apparently, there were some people who have serious facial and eye injuries. Could this blind you, forever?

MORRIS: Yes, absolutely.

TODD: A walkie-talkie is a larger device with more room to hold explosives inside and more material to be sent flying. And it's often held close to the face.

This one caused even more damage, debris strewn widely, pieces of twisted metal launched as far as a hundred yards and severe injury to the mannequin.

MORRIS: It would be devastating if it were in your hand or close to your head.

TODD: These two tests were done at CNN's request in the wake of the explosions this week of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon, said to target Hezbollah members and causing thousands of injuries and dozens of deaths.

[18:20:03]

Based on photos of the debris of devices in Lebanon, these tests use PETN explosive on a pager of the same branding and a walkie-talkie similar in size to the ones targeted in Lebanon.

CNN is not showing how the explosives might be placed or how they might be detonated.

MORRIS: Three, two, one.

TODD: The tests were conducted by Ryan Morris, a former explosive specialist with the Department of Homeland Security, who runs a firm which trains government and military personnel.

MORRIS: Whoever did it, they were pretty skilled.

TODD: Another explosives expert who examined a walkie-talkie similar to the model targeted in Lebanon said making thousands of bombs was a big and risky undertaking.

MAJ. GEN. MANIK SABHARWAL (RET), EXPLOSIVES ANALYST: It will take a lot of time for the explosive to be put in, for it to be connected to the initiating mechanism, to be connected to the detonator. Chances of it exploding while they are doing all this is also there.

TODD: And the devices are so small.

SABHARWAL: I don't find any empty space in this. It's difficult.

TODD: How hard is it to, I guess, pack an explosive into something this small?

MORRIS: Someone has any knowledge of this tradecraft can do it very easily. It's -- you can secrete explosives in anything.

TODD: And triggering thousands of them all at once?

MORRIS: If they have all the numbers for the -- for the pagers, they just send a massive texts to all of them, all those numbers, and they go off the same time.

TODD (on camera): How vulnerable is the traveling public to explosions like this? Ryan Morris says, airport technology is really good now at detecting tiny, tiny amounts of explosive material in devices like this.

And he says, it stays with you if you handle it. I got a tiny amount of that material on my hands and Morris says it will stay with me for a awhile no matter how many times I wash my hands.

Brian Todd, CNN, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Brian, thank you.

And I want to bring in former CIA officer Bob Baer now for more on these attacks.

Bob, thanks so much for being here with us.

I am sure you've seen so many people saying that this operation is just astounding and you would know better than most what it takes to pull something like this off.

So what does it take from an intelligence standpoint?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it is been going on for decades. The Israelis have been planting themselves into Hezbollah supply networks.

For instance, at these ICOM radios, Hezbollah has been using them going back to 1982. They know the model, they know the prices, and they get into European companies and set up shelf companies to start selling these things in Lebanon.

And once they start landing in the hands of Hezbollah, they just keep on producing them and hiding it, if you just gone through secreting these explosives in a pager or radio is fairly simple. A coded message to the radio and they go off.

I mean, and this stuff, PTEN is fairly unstable. We tracked one bomber who used to put it in sculptures in his house, built ceramic sculptures out of PETN. Yes, they are deadly when detonated.

DEAN: Were you surprised when you heard about this?

BAER: Absolutely. I've never seen an operation where so many radios and so much technology has been rigged ever. It took an enormous amount of discipline on Mossad's part or IDF, and their technological ability is beyond here.

So yes, I don't know if any intelligence agency in the world that could carry this off, except Mossad.

DEAN: I did want to ask you about that because there has been a lot of talk about who else could have done this. Is this something that even the Americans could have pulled off?

BAER: Well, for a start, it is illegal, these are area weapons and they killed women and children. We are not going down that route and we haven't especially against Hezbollah. We've been very wary of that organization starting a war with it.

I just do not believe the United States was involved in this. Israel may have tipped off the United States there would be an operation on Tuesday and there was, but this is something we wouldn't get involved in, and we just don't have the capacities of having all of these shelf companies in Europe and Asia to set up something like this.

It takes a lot of money, a lot of people know what they are doing and just wonderful access.

DEAN: And so just to that point, just lastly, walk people through kind of how difficult that is. You mentioned the shell companies and the access, the intelligence, the discipline, putting it all together, just kind of what it takes from an intelligence perspective to do something like this.

BAER: Well, to set up a shelf company for instance, in Hungary, the company actually has to do business and it has to have people working for that company that know what they are doing.

And it also has to be familiar with markets like for ICOM radios or these Gold Apollo pagers.

[18:25:10]

There is a market, there is a price for them. They are in Lebanese dealers and they have got to keep track of all of those dealers and they've got to figure out which ones supply to Hezbollah and they have to be entrusted by them.

And if there is a criminal element to Hezbollah, which was probably used, which the Israelis got into as well, but it just takes a --

I mean, look Israel has been decapitating Hezbollah, its military leadership going back to 2008 with a similar bombing in Damascus, killed the head of the Radwan Force, and it went and killed his brother-in-law with a missile, killed Fouad Shukur with a missile, and now Ibrahim Aqil. That is the leadership around Nasrallah.

I have never seen -- and even the Munich situation, I've never seen the ability of a country to destroy a clandestine leadership like this. Just none in history.

DEAN: Bob Baer, thank you for that context, that analysis. We really appreciate it.

BAER: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump still neck and neck in the polls, we are running the numbers with our Harry Enten on both candidates' potential paths to victory.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:31]

DEAN: With the election just around the corner, new polling showing a close race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. As we've mentioned, Trump was in the battleground state of North Carolina today following the recent controversy involving on state's Republican candidate for governor. But will this sway voters in Harris' favor? Will it make any difference?

Joining me now, CNN Senior Data Reporter, we have so many questions for him, Harry Enten. He's going to run the numbers.

Harry, it seems like a lot of people very interested in the Mark Robinson story, but there's interest in the story and then there's any sort of impact it might actually have.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, let's talk about the interest first. My goodness gracious, when it comes to interest in this story, you know, there's some stories that are supposed to be these big bombshells and nobody cares. This is a story that people are really interested in.

So this is Google searches for Mark Robinson. And we're looking at a change from since the KFILE story on Robinson broke versus the prior 48 hours, look at how many more Google searches there are nationally now compared to the prior 48 hours before that story broke, up over 6,000 percent. How about in North Carolina where obviously Robinson is going to be on the ballot? Up over 3,000 percent, despite the fact that there were a lot of people googling him before.

The bottom line is we can't stop talking about this and the American people and North Carolinians can't stop talking about it.

DEAN: Yes, those are incredible numbers.

ENTEN: Yes.

DEAN: So break down the state of politics right now in North Carolina.

ENTEN: Yes. You want ...

DEAN: How could this single scandal impact the presidential race?

ENTEN: Yes, you were talking about impact in the second part of your intro there. So let's take a look at the North Carolina polls. And this will give you an understanding of just how close the presidential race is in the great state of North Carolina in the Tar Heel State.

Look at this, it's Trump. But by less than a point, we're talking like 0.2 percentage points. It's basically a tie. The governor's race between Josh Stein and Mark Robinson, look at this, Josh Stein was already leading beforehand by 10 points. I wouldn't be surprised if that lead expands a little bit.

I think the question is, does this race impact this one? And does the scandal impact the presidential race? That's a question I'm not quite sure about. What I do know, though, is that North Carolina is just really, really important for Donald Trump's chances of winning the White House, because this is the chance of winning the election if the - if either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins in the great state of North Carolina.

Look at this, Kamala Harris, if she wins in North Carolina, she has a 95 percent chance of winning this election, which basically means it's a must win for Donald Trump. Even if Trump wins in the Tar Heel State, look at that, his chance of winning the election is 74 percent, which is pretty good, right? But Kamala Harris, it's not a must win state for her, it really is for Donald Trump. If he wants to win this election, he has to win in North Carolina.

DEAN: And then broaden it out from North Carolina, how is it looking in the key battleground states today?

ENTEN: Yes. This is something I think we're going to do every week before the election.

DEAN: Yes.

ENTEN: I think this is what everyone's interested in. So, all right, this is Harris versus Trump margin in the Great Lake battleground states and in the Sun Belt, right? Look, in the Great Lakes, it's a very close race.

I think Kamala Harris has a slight edge in each of these battlegrounds: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania. She's up by two in all of them. But that's way too close to call. You look at the Sun Belt battleground states, you thought these races were close. Look how close these are. My goodness gracious.

It's Harris by just one in Nevada. North Carolina, we spoke about that less than one point lead for Donald Trump. And in Arizona and Georgia, what we see is just a one point lead for Donald Trump in both of these states. The bottom line here is this is a race that is very, very tight, Jessica.

DEAN: It certainly is. Harry Enten, thanks for breaking it all down, we appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

DEAN: CNN's Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter, is joining us now to talk about the possibility of another Harris-Trump debate. Brian, thanks so much for being here with us on a Saturday night. Good to see you.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Good to see you.

DEAN: Yes.

STELTER: Thanks.

DEAN: We know that Harris has accepted this offer to debate on CNN. Trump said today it's too late. It would be October 23rd. I know you've been talking to your sources back and forth - about the back and forth between these campaigns, what are you hearing?

STELTER: Yes. It's really striking that Harris decided to come out and publicly accept this offer today. And I think she's doing it clearly trying to challenge Trump. So far, Trump has not taken the challenge. So far, he's declining. But I think a lot can happen in the next few weeks.

So I think we should view this as still a very live possibility, because we don't know what the polls are going to show between now and October 23rd. Even the great Harry Enten doesn't know for sure. We don't know what Trump's motivations are going to be in the coming weeks.

[18:35:01]

But we do know there's only one debate currently scheduled and that's the vice presidential debate.

I've had several sources today say to me, are we really going to end up here with the final debate being the running mates, being the VPs? I mean, no disrespect to Tim Walz and JD Vance, I think it's going to be a fascinating matchup. But normally, in a normal presidential year, you have that VP debate in between presidential face-offs. That's always how it's worked before. We'll see if Trump ultimately comes around and agrees to meet Harris in October.

DEAN: Yes, and he's done these late October debates in the past. So we will see how that all shakes out. We did just have, as you noted, Harry walk us through the numbers. It is this - there's no way around it. Like, this is an incredibly close race. We are an incredibly divided country with people on both sides truly believing democracy is at stake in this election. And I know you have been really focusing in on de-escalation when it comes to politics and how we're all relating to each other.

What are you learning about this? What are your thoughts? Just tell me more about that.

STELTER: It's honestly one of the reasons why I wanted to rejoin the family here at CNN. I think this is a pivotal question for the next few months. I've interviewed researchers and experts who are really worried about political violence spiking and getting even worse in the coming months.

So as a society, we have to find ways to de-escalate. And I think that includes within media establishments. We know Donald Trump's not going to do it. He's not going to lower the temperature. There are other politicians who also want to keep the temperature really high. But I think the rest of us have to.

So, Jessica, I've been seeking out what groups, what organizations are out there doing this work. There's great groups like Braver Angels trying to help conservatives and liberals make connections and see what they have in common.

There's a group called Common Ground Committee that tries to heal divides and promote candidates to seek common ground.

There's also a group called More in Common, and the name says it all. They try to show neighbors that they're not enemies. They actually are allies. And those are just a few examples. I'm not here to say the stakes are not high in November. The stakes are very high. It's just we all have to live together next year no matter what happens.

And I think the great conservative commentator George Will said it best the other day. He was giving a speech and he said, the way you lower the temperature of politics is to lower the stakes of politics, right? To take away the sense that it's always a crisis, that it's always existential, and to help neighbors see each other as neighbors.

I think the media has a role to play in helping us see that we have more in common than we might sometimes think when we're scrolling through our social media feeds. Because you and I both know, Jessica, when we're scrolling through social media, we get a world that looks a lot more divisive than it actually is.

DEAN: Well, and, of course, there's a lot of people and enemies of America that would love us to be very divided, that like to put disinformation ...

STELTER: Yes, right. DEAN: ... and all kinds of things out there, right?

STELTER: Right, exactly.

DEAN: So it is an important thing to remember. Brian Stelter, thanks so much.

STELTER: Good to see you.

DEAN: And I want to mention Brian's book "Network of Lies" has just been released in paperback. It is updated for the 2024 election with four new chapters, so be sure to check that out.

Four years ago, it was a hotbed for election conspiracy theories. And ahead, we're going to take you behind the scenes in Maricopa County, Arizona, for a look at the extreme measures officials are taking to protect this year's election. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:44]

DEAN: Election officials in more than 17 states have already received threats as they prepare for Election Day. CNN Senior Investigative Correspondent, Kyung Lah, got a firsthand look inside at efforts underway in Arizona's biggest county to safeguard the election process.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES, (R) MARICOPA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: People were coming up these stairs and there was a real concern that they were going to breach this door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Election night 2020, this was the scene outside the Maricopa County elections department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (on camera): You can see a line of law enforcement here, the Sheriff's Department.

There are a number of people out there who have been seen with long guns, with automatic - semiautomatic rifles because this is an open carry state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): Since that night, security has been ramped up. The vote count surrounded by surveillance cameras, iron fencing and armed guards. Maricopa County is one of the largest and most competitive counties in the entire country. It's also a cauldron for conspiracies and misinformation.

CNN is getting an exclusive look at how law enforcement now protects democracy from chaos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GATES: Now, unfortunately, this building has turned into a bit of a fortress. But that's the reality of elections in 2024.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): It's primary day in Arizona. And Sergeant Jeff Woolf has been on duty since dawn monitoring for potential threats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEANT JEFF WOOLF, MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Our staff has been out on the roads since approximately around 5:00 this morning.

We want to know that our plan is providing a safe environment, but we don't want to project that were possibly intimidating the election process by having a large amount of uniform resources or patrol cars and things like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have eyes everywhere, video surveillance or drones. So were just watching for anything that might look like suspicious, anything that might potentially turn into a crowd or something criminal.

SHERIFF RUSS SKINNER, MARICOPA COUNTY: Thank you, everybody, for all the preplanning, logistics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): Maricopa County Sheriff Rust Skinner says this is so a blackout week.

[18:45:02]

All hands on deck, all law enforcement on duty. The heart of the operation is in this room

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SKINNER: So this room is called the EOC or the EOR, basically emergency operations room or emergency operations center.

Stay hydrated, stay cool, and work together and watch your six.

LAH: Here, this is outside the very office where they were counting the votes.

SKINNER: 2020 change things dramatically. We look at this as a major event now. It goes beyond just the election security. We've seen a lot of threats that have come out to public officials, elections workers and that's very concerning because you have people that's just, you know, doing their job, serving the public, serving the community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are off to a very busy start this morning for this primary election.

GATES: Well, when I came to the Maricopa County board of supervisors in 2017, it was a sleepy but important part of government here in Arizona. We now have to worry about things like our personal security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): Bill Gates is a Republican Maricopa County supervisor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GATES: I could not quantify the number of death threats that we have received here. Today when somebody knocks on the door or rings the doorbell, you know, our first urge isn't to swing the door open. Instead, it is: Who is that? What are they doing? Why are they at our house?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): And it's not just Bill Gates. This year across the U.S., more than one in three election official say they have been threatened, harassed or experienced abuse simply for doing their job.

Here, Maricopa County officials have invested more than $3 million since 2020 to secure the election center and the workers who will be inside counting the ballots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GATES: People choose if they want to rush this building, it would be extremely hard for them to do that.

WOOLF: Should I think that elections would ever come to this? Well, with this kind of presence, I guess not. I guess I didn't foresee this happening. So I think the important thing is true prepare for that. And that's what we've done now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Extraordinary reporting there from Kyung Lah, who also says that many of these officials say they are used to this type of abuse, dating all the way back to 2020 and they've actually lost friends over election security. Kyung, thank you for that report.

Just in, what we're learning about a visit from Ukraine's President Zelenskyy to the state of Pennsylvania tomorrow.

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[18:52:10] DEAN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is reportedly planning to visit a Pennsylvania ammunition factory tomorrow. During his visit to the U.S., he hopes to persuade President Biden to allow Ukraine to use Western-made long-range missiles on targets inside Russia as part of his victory plan over Moscow. CNN Military Analyst retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton is joining us now.

And Colonel, good to see you. Good to have you with us on this Saturday night.

Zelenskyy says he needs these restrictions lifted to use these weapons effectively to win the war against Russia. Do you think he's right and how likely is that to happen?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Jessica, good to be with you.

I think he is right. It is absolutely essential for the Ukrainians to have as many long-range fires, as it's called in the military business, as possible, different types of weapons, different ranges, kinds of things that are necessary in order to put all the weapons systems that the Russians have at risk. How likely is it to happen?

I think there's about a 50-50 chance that he's going to get permission to at least use some of the Western weapons. Chances are, though, that there will be certain restrictions on exactly what they can target. And I think the Ukrainians will probably learn to live with those restrictions. No attacking nuclear command and control centers, no attacking certain things that will be perceived by the Russians as a threat to the existence of the Russian state. That would be the kind of parameter that I could see being established for the Ukrainians in this case.

DEAN: And Russian President Vladimir Putin warned earlier this week that Moscow would be, in his words, at war with NATO if these weapons restrictions are lifted. And I've talked to other experts. They think this is likely a lot of bluster. What do you think? What do you think he actually means by that and what might that practically look like?

LEIGHTON: Well, we have to keep in mind, Jessica, that Putin already thinks that he's at war with the West. He's made statements - others in his government have made statements that they are currently fighting us, basically for a battle for the existence of Russia as a state - as an expansion state. What might this look like?

I think in this particular case, what you're looking at is the Russians will make a lot of noise. There'll be a lot of diplomatic movement on the Russian side to try to convince countries like Hungary and Turkey to peel off of NATO. But that will not ultimately be successful. But I do think that there will be a lot of pressure from the Russians, and there will be things that are on the - more unconventional side, things like cyber attacks, sabotage events, those kinds of things will probably be ramped up.

DEAN: And President Zelenskyy says he believes the U.S. and other allies are reticent to approve the use of these long-range weapons inside Russia out of fears that this will escalate this war.

[18:55:08]

Do you think that's true?

LEIGHTON: Oh, yes, it's absolutely true. And Zelenskyy has a pretty good read on not only American politics, but also European politics. He understands that there are going to be domestic pressures on the various governments in the West to limit the war as much as can be done. And there's also a degree of war fatigue.

So Zelenskyy understands all of that. He knows that there's war fatigue in the, you know, Western side, but there's also war fatigue within Ukraine. And he's basically racing against the clock to make sure that he can defend Ukraine and has the means to defend Ukraine no matter what happens with our election or with any other political situation, such as German elections, which will probably be coming up soon.

So those are the kinds of things that he's calculating in this case and I think he has - because he has a good read on it, he may very well be successful, at least in getting part of what he wants.

DEAN: All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much. Always good to see you.

LEIGHTON: Good to see you too, Jessica. Thank you.

DEAN: Still to come tonight, Donald Trump takes his campaign to the crucial state of North Carolina as the Trump-backed Republican candidate for governor there finds himself deep in controversy. We're going to talk to the head of North Carolina's Democratic Party. That's ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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